The present invention relates generally to an optical diffuser and method for making the same, and more particularly to an optical diffuser having a high diffraction efficiency, broadband response and cost effective method of producing the same.
Reflective diffusers are required for many applications, including liquid crystal displays, to enhance their viewability. Often these diffusers, placed behind the liquid crystal element, are simply roughened reflective surfaces. These reflectors utilize no back lighting, but instead rely on the scattered reflection of the ambient light. Unfortunately, light scattered from these devices is centered around the glare angle, which is in direct line-of-sight with the undesirable reflections from their front surface. Furthermore in many applications, such as computer screens, and perhaps watches, the preferred orientation of the device is one for which viewing at the glare angle is not optimum. The situation can be improved by using holographic diffusers which allow the reflection angles of interest to be offset, so that the maximum brightness from the diffuser falls in a preferred viewing angle which is different from that of the glare. One type of holographic diffuser that is sometimes used is the reflective, xe2x80x9csurface-reliefxe2x80x9d hologram. This hologram has the advantage over other types in that if the ambient light is white, the reflected diffuse light is also white. Another advantage of the surface-relief hologram is that embossing can reproduce it easily and inexpensively. A major disadvantage is that the surface-relief hologram can be inefficient. Only a relatively small percentage of the incident light is diffracted into the desired viewing angles (typically less than 30 degrees)
A non-holographic diffuser, when coupled with a reflective focusing screen, uses randomly sized and randomly placed minute granules, which are created by interaction of solvent particles on plastic surfaces (See U.S. Pat. No. 3,718,078, entitled, xe2x80x9cSmoothly Granulated Optical Surface and Method for Making Samexe2x80x9d). These granules are dimples of extremely small magnitude (one half of a micron in depth), which reflect incident light more or less uniformly over a restricted angle. However, the angles of reflectance are very small, usually about + or xe2x88x923 degrees, and the light reflected from them is here again at the glare angle.
A second kind of off-axis, holographic diffuser in common use today is the volume reflection diffuser, which can be provided by Polaroid Corporation of Cambridge Mass. With volume holograms, fringes that give rise to the diffuser reflection are distributed throughout the volume of the material, unlike the surface reflection concept of the xe2x80x9csurface-reliefxe2x80x9d holograms. Because of this, light of a wavelength that is characteristic of the spacing distance between the fringe planes is resonantly enhanced over all other wavelengths. Thus, the reflected light is highly monochromatic. For example, if the spacing is characteristic of green, then green will be the predominant reflected color for incident white light. Unlike conventional embossed holographic diffusers, the reflection can be extremely efficient, although only over a narrow wavelength band. As a result, the surface-relief hologram can appear dim because most of the incident white light falls outside of this select band. Further processing can increase the bandwidth, thus increasing the apparent brightness, but the resulting diffuser still has a predominant hue, which is in most cases undesirable. In any event the bandwidth is still somewhat restricted, thus limiting the reflection efficiency.
Therefore, an unsolved need has remained for a diffuser having a high diffraction efficiency, broadband response and cost effective manufacture, which overcomes limitations of the prior art.
In an embodiment of the present invention as set forth herein is a blazed diffuser, which includes a reflective surface having a sawtooth structure. The sawtooth structure includes a series of contiguous wedges, each of which reflects incident oblique light into a beam which is more or less normal to the gross surface of the device. This wedge structure may be regarded as simply an off-axis mirror if the wedge spacing (period) is much larger than the wavelength. Superimposed on this wedge surface is a second structural component, which by itself diffracts incident light normal to its surface into rays, which constitute only those over a restricted narrow angle (e.g. + or xe2x88x9215 degrees). This angle is specified as that which is desired for a particular application. In an embodiment, this second surface shape is one that uniformly scatters an incident ray throughout the viewing angle. Such a structure gives a so called xe2x80x9cflat topxe2x80x9d scattering. When these two structures are superimposed, light incident from a predetermined angle which is dependent on the wedge angle, is uniformly scattered throughout a specified range of viewing angles with a high degree of efficiency. Almost all incident light is utilized and efficiencies approaching 100% for all visible wavelengths are possible.
In another embodiment, a blazed diffuser is made entirely by optical, holographic means, and it can be fabricated in such a way that the broadband spectral colors are properly mixed so that the diffracted light appears white. The recording for this diffuser is done in two primary ways. The first is by recording directly from a predetermined diffuse surface, and the second is by copying from a volume diffuser into a surface diffuser.